1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention generally pertains to dental implants and more specifically to a method for adjusting the position of a drill bushing used for installing the implant.
2. Description of Related Art
Various dental implant methods and devices have been developed for replacing one or more missing teeth in a person's jaw with prosthetic teeth. For many prosthetic teeth, a final product comprises three basic components: an implant, an abutment, and a crown. The crown is the exposed portion of the prosthesis that resembles one or more teeth. The implant is an anchor that becomes attached to the jawbone, and the abutment couples the crown to the implant.
To install the implant, a hole is usually drilled into the patient's jawbone, and the implant is inserted into the hole.
A drill bushing attached to a stent can be used to help guide the drill bit, as disclosed in PCT Publication WO 99/26540 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,015,183; 5,133,660; 5,718,579. A drill bushing, unfortunately, can be difficult to align in the proper direction.
Although the image of implants have been tilted, translated and otherwise manipulated with respect to an image of a jawbone, such image manipulations fail to show how the orientation of an existing drill bushing may need to be adjusted to achieve a desired drill trajectory.
Thus, a need exists for a better method of aligning a drill bushing to a patient's jawbone.